Rick Buckler has died. Buckler, the drummer of the seminal English mod punk band The Jam, was one-third of one of the era’s most talented and eclectic groups. As confirmed by his family to the BBC, Buckler died on Monday in his hometown of Woking, England. He was 69.
“I’m shocked and saddened by Rick’s passing,” The Jam’s Paul Weller wrote on X. “I’m thinking back to us all rehearsing in my bedroom in Stanley Road, Woking. To all the pubs and clubs we played at as kids, to eventually making a record. What a journey! We went far beyond our dreams and what we made stands the test of time.”
“I was shocked and devastated to hear the very sad news today.” Jam bassist Bruce Foxton wrote on Weller’s X account. “Rick was a good guy and a great drummer whose innovative drum patterns helped shape our songs. I’m glad we had the chance to work together as much as we did.”
With Foxton, Buckler held down one of the punk scene’s tightest and most inventive rhythm sections. Founded in 1972 in Woking, with the three members still in secondary school, the Jam would become one of England’s most creative punk bands, owing much of their originality to Buckler’s dynamic playing. From the band’s debut, In The City, and through their swan song, The Gift, he and Foxton delivered raw low-end that played off the typical punk rhythms to find driving grooves that balanced the jagged highs of Weller’s guitar. As Weller’s songwriting expanded beyond punk, Buckler kept apace, elaborating on the frontman’s range of influences and maintaining a cogent style amid the experimentation.
“There’s nothing more boring than hearing the same album again,” Buckler said in 2015. “When we made In The City, everyone expected the next album [This Is The Modern World] to be In The City II. But I like all the albums: In The City is that pub rock thing, Sound Affects was where we were at that time. We wanted to make every album different and not do things twice.”
The musical dexterity helped the Jam align with England’s disaffected youth, responding to Thatcherism with upbeat political anthems that went to the top of the pops. The group released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the U.K., with four reaching number one, including “Going Underground,” “Start!,” and “A Town Called Malice.” After six records, the Jam broke up in 1982, with Weller launching Style Council and Buckler starting Time U.K. Shortly after, Time broke up, and Buckler founded Sharp with Foxton.
In the 1990s, Buckler left the music industry to become a carpenter, but he’d later resume playing Jam songs live with The Gift in 2005 before reuniting with Foxton in From The Jam, performing their many hits together. In 2015, he released an autobiography, That’s Entertainment: My Life In The Jam.
He is survived by his wife, Lesley, and two children, Jason and Holly.
